


Who Are You, Really?

by TiredDemon



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Aged-Up Losers Club (IT), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Beverley is a BAMF, Beverly Marsh & Richie Tozier Are Best Friends, Buckle up bois, Canon-Typical Violence, Deadlights (IT), Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Heavy Angst, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, In which I'm mean to everyone, Patrick Hockstetter is His Own Warning, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism, Richie Tozier & Stanley Uris Are Best Friends, Richie Tozier Has Issues, Richie Tozier Needs a Hug, Richie Tozier is a Little Shit, Richie Tozier is a Mess, Richie Tozier is a dumbass, Richie Tozier is fucking old in this, Richie Tozier-centric, Someone Help These Dorks, Sorry Not Sorry, Swearing, This probably breaks the lore, but do i care?, but it all will make sense, by aged up I mean they're like fourteen, hopefully, no, no beta we die like men, so not really, they're still all stupid, timeline jumps around a bit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-11-16
Packaged: 2020-12-23 21:58:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21088457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TiredDemon/pseuds/TiredDemon
Summary: In reality, Richie had never intended to get close to the losers club, he didn’t intend to get close to anyone, not after what happened last time, but most things never start with a direct intention, most things happen without realization.Now here they were, faced directly with a ‘monster’ Richie was all to familiar with.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go ya'll, I haven't written in a little under a year so please forgive me :,)

** _[ 135 Years Ago, 1866]_ **

The wind howled through the sewer drains, bouncing off the walls and fading into nothingness the deeper into the sewers it traveled, the further from safety.

A lone and fluttering leaf that once belonged to a thriving maple tree was swept into the sewers, the wind taking it through many twists and turns and around bends before it landed softly, and gracefully in the slow-moving water, bobbing up and down with the current as it made its way through the darkened tunnel of the sewers, the sound of water trickling and rushing was the only sound now as the wind had long been forgotten now, the whistling dying out, never to reach these parts of the sewers, nothing reached these parts of the sewers- well, nothing alive at least.

The leaf swayed unsteadily yet gracefully through the currents as they got stronger at some points before almost becoming immobile at some points as the water would slow down, however, at last, it gave a final little flutter as it took its final landing in place, it landed with barely a sound on top of the wet concrete ground of the sewer, looking up from the leaf and to its new surroundings, the place was large, it didn’t seem like it would be apart of a sewer system, it was similar to that of a lair, like the ones used in children's books. The ceiling was high and there was a constant drip, drip, drip of water echoing throughout and bouncing off the walls, the main source of the dripping unknown to most that would initially viewing it, however upon closer inspection it could most likely be chalked up to the blood dripping off the large pile of children’s corpses that towered upwards towards the tall ceiling, and whilst that was most certainly peculiar there was something else, quite a few of them appeared to be floating, with no why or how just floating in the air.

Many of the kids were missing body parts, one leg, one if you looked close enough had their shoulder blade ripped out, another having looked like it was simply sliced in half, no single body seemed to have been left unscathed by whoever or whatever left them here.

Aside from the constant dripping, all was quiet, despite the situation, the place was calm in a way, peaceful almost, had it not been for the obvious amount of wrongs when looking at the scene, it still was peaceful. Well, that was how it had been, until a loud deep rumble filled what could only be assumed as the entire sewer drains, it was loud and piercing and made the dark place shake violently, for just below the place of the floating bodies- 30 feet or so, in a meteor crash site that had been formed a long, long time ago, a new being was in the process of creation.

The walls shook and the ground rumbled violently as another wave seemed to hit, deep inside the meteor crash site, five out of world deadlights were shaking and shuttering violently, creating smaller rumbles as they bumped into each other at points, as if they were all fighting with one another, until finally one separated from the rest as the others seemed to almost work together to expel it, it slammed into the ground with an explosion and it dispersed into a bright and wandering light and it seemed calm, and the rumbling stopped, the walls stopped shaking and it was peaceful once again aside from the falling of rocks that had yet to land, until seemingly out of nowhere a second deadlight slammed down into the first one, and they both burst into a large explosion of light, one so bright it would have blinded anyone looking at it, even from a large distance.

The light was slow to dissipate, from the explosion, small orbs fluttering down to the ground and being put out soon after touching the moist floor, and in the middle of the explosion site, stood a new and young being- a being that was made, solely for the purpose of helping one (1) eater and destroyer of worlds.

-

This new predator was at the sewer opening now, it looked like a young boy, twelve or thirteen perhaps, he was short too, at least it appeared that way with the bottom half of his legs hidden by the murky water that seemed to be still and calm, content with gently lapping at the edges of the sewer and the banks that resided on either side. He had rather soft features, curly brown, almost black hair, thick black frames perched on his nose and the faintest hint of freckles danced across his features.

The being looked out across the still water, his ears picking up on the smallest of sounds from animals in the woods and the rumbles of cars driving on roads not too far away from the place he stood, he had been given an order, he needed to fulfill it

_( even if he didn’t want to )_

he needed to

_( Kill )_

Befriend humans, the young ones, although they- technically speaking- would’ve been older than him, only truly being created forty-seven minutes and seventeen seconds ago. He waded through the water, the quiet ripples made him look down to fully engage his reflection for the first time, it had only made sense for his form to be that of the target he was created too hunt, too lure then into a sense false of trust, and allow his superior to eat them whole, that's why he was here, that's what he was made for, it must be all he was good for,

Making his way up the bank, the being-with-no-name walked into the town of Derry, it was a small town, which in reality made their jobs easier, it was easier to make such a small amount of people turn a blind eye to what was happening, turn a blind eye to the masses of kids that go missing every twenty-seven years or so, turn a blind eye to the obvious evidence of what was really happening in the small town.

He barely made a noise as he scaled a rotting brick wall, vaulting over it to be greeted with a small shopping district where people of all ages were walking up and down, some parents shopping, some kids hanging with friends, it was lively and bright, much more alive compared to the conditions of the underground network running under Derry.

The being's eyes seemed to find and focus in on to two kids who were leaned up against a wall across the road, talking amongst themselves, and the beings eyes narrowed, a smark twitching its way onto his lips,

So it begins.

-

It had happened quickly, the two kids, who the being now knew to be called Stanely and Charles,

_( “I'm Stanely, and this is Charles.” The tall one with curly hair had said, gesturing to his friend, the being felt his heart rate pick up for a second_  
before his eyes landed on a sign _behind the two kids it read ‘Richie’s ice-cream palace’ some sort of human market he_  
_ supposed as his focus returned to the two, “I’m Richie.” He had said, peering at the __two through his glasses.)_

It only took a bit of talking before the being- or Richie he supposed was regarded as one of their ‘friends’, whatever that meant, something about humans trusting another or some bullshit.

Now the three of them stood out the front of the house on neibolt street, it was abandoned and to anyone looking at it from the outside it would seem empty, the being- Richie- knew this was far from the case, this was the place where all the sewers in Derry met up, like the center of a spider web it was where the monster awaited its prey, under this house was the place where it operated, it was the place above where all those kids bodies were floating, it was the place where Stanely and Charles would become no more than another pair of missing kids out of the many in the town of Derry, destined to be forgotten with time.

Richie led them up to the house, a smile twitching on his lips as he could feel it’s presence inside, waiting, Richie had done his job. Turning to the two of them he smirked seeing that they were both at least somewhat hesitant to go inside, “What, you wussies aren’t scared are ya?” He asked, a mocking tone in his voice, a pout forming on his face.

Charles only gave him a dirty glare back in response as he walked up to the front door where Richie was leaning on the doorframe of, making a point of walking in past him with Stanely close in tail, Richie only smirked in response.

“This place is so disgusting,” Charles commented as him and Stanely took in the inside of the house, meanwhile Richie had stepped in behind them, scowling a little bit at Charles’ comment, it was a house, wasn’t it? This was what humans also lived in was it not? Richie frowned in thought, he certainly didn’t see it as disgusting.

“Imagine having to spend the night here.” He continued after no one responded to his initial comment, but Richie was too busy, slamming the door shut behind them, causing them to jump to whirl around and face him, to which he just smiled, eyes narrowing.

“What the hell Richie?” Stanely asked, his voice shrill, if it wasn’t already clear he did not want to be here, it was very much obvious now.

But Richie didn’t respond, just smirked, rolling his shoulders as he let his extra set of limbs unfold, four spider legs, all popping into place with the soft noises of bones crunching- not that it hurt- in fact, it felt like a nice stretch more than anything, his teeth sharpened and his eyes darkened as he began advancing on the other two, who stumbled back in response, clearly confused and most importantly fearful.

Unfortunately for them, they happened to stumble directly into a clown, who just looked down at them with a hungry and menacing look in its dilated eyes,

“Time to float.”

Stanely Uris and Charles Dunkum knew no more.

-

** _[ Present Time, 2001]_ **

Richie gasped awake, sucking in a large amount of air as he sat bolt upright, his eyes darting around, fuck, where was he? Where the fuck where his glasses? And more importantly, who the fuck was screaming?

Finally something- someone, Richie corrected himself handed him his glasses and he wasted no time in shoving them onto his face, desperately looking around, realizing the screaming had been from the TV that had since been paused and he was, he was at Bill’s house, in the garage, with the rest of the loser clubs.

Shit- when Richie looked up he found he was situated on the couch between Eddie and Bill, Beverly and Ben were sitting on another couch and Stan was on the other side of Bill and Mike was on an armchair by himself, and they were all staring, mixed emotion on their faces.

“The fuck was that Richie?” Eddie asked, worry lacing his tone as Richie turned to face him, “Sorry guys, was dreaming about what I was gonna do with Eddie’s mum tonight.” He quipped back immediately, putting no thought into it as he looked down at his hands, frowning as he noticed their tremors, shoving them in his pockets.

“You think trashmouth?” Bev asked, raising a brow, her lips pressed into a thin line, clearly in thought.

“You bet.” He smirked, opening his mouth to add on something he didn’t know, and would never know as Eddie could already tell some quip about his mum was coming and he quickly elbowed Richie’s side which caused Richie to let out an incredibly manly sound.

“You wound me Eddie.” He said, dramatically raising a hand to his forehead as he pushed himself off the couch with the intent of getting a glass of soda, well that was before his gaze fell on Stanley, who like the rest of the losers club was looking at him with a concerned gaze “Oh.” was all he let out as a familiar something pulled at Richie’s gut, causing his face to pale with what the other losers could only view as horror, the look was only there for a couple of moments before Richie had turned and all but sprinted down the hallway and upstairs to the bathroom.

By the time the rest of the losers arrived at the door frame Richie was already leaned over in the toilet, retching and his entire body convulsing violently.

“Shu-shit Richie!’ Bill said, the first to fully step into the bathroom, Stanely following close behind whilst the other stood at the doorway, for the simple reason of not wanting to overcrowd the bathroom, Eddie for other reasons obviously as even though he couldn’t see exactly what was happening he looked like he was about to vomit as well.

Stanely turned around once him and Bill crouched on either side of Richie who seemed to not be retching anymore, rather just hovering over the toilet bowl as if he expected to start up any second, his hands were gripping it so tightly his knuckles were white, “One of you go get a glass of water.”

After a few more minutes of Richie vomiting again once or twice and Stan rubbing circles on his back he finally pulled himself away from the toilet bowl and collapsing onto the floor, his dark mop of curls was sticky with sweat as he breathed heavily, gratefully drinking the glass of water Bev had received in one go, before throwing his head back against the wall, his weary gaze scanning the bathroom, realizing everyone but Bill, Stan and Bev had thankfully retreated downstairs.

After a few moments of nothing but his heavy breathing, his eyes darted up towards the others, who were still watching him carefully, “What? I still look as good when I vomit, you guys flatter me.” He said, obviously meaning to lighten the mood, not that it worked as the three of them all scowled and Richie looked away from their disappointed gazes.

“Wuh-what the hell wa-was that Richie?” Bill asked, voice angry which caused Richie to wince back a bit, he didn’t enjoy making any of the losers angry, but more especially Bill and Stanely, who were now both looking at him with expectant gazes.

Richie squinted, looking at the both of them, trying his best to play off the impending dread he could feel building up in his stomach, “Why I’m pretty sure it was vomit, what are you fucking blind?” He asked, his voice edging on acidity as his thoughts slowly unscrambled and the reality of what is currently happening- out of this room- and under Derry, hit him.

Stanely, who had previously been keeping a calm composure, broke, “You know what we mean Tozier!” He snapped back, his hands running through his curly hair, clearly stressed. “First you start shaking and twisting whilst your sleeping, and then you suddenly wake up to dart out of the room to vomit!”

Richie shrugged, “Guess I’m sick, lay off Stanley!” He spat, before clamping his jaw shut at the hurt expression on Stanley’s face, and the narrowing of Bill’s eyes.

“W-we’re- we’re juh-just concerned,” Bill said, looking between the two, also looking taken aback, it wasn’t often Richie ever got so directly angry with any of the losers, considering it was usually them getting angry at him for cracking a joke once or twice, they rarely ever got to see Richie genuinely mad.

“Yeah, well drop it.” He spat, shakily and unsteadily rising to his feet, slapping Bill’s hand away when it offered help, “I needa go.” He said, pushing past Stan and Bill who both tried to get in his way but he easily slipped past them and thankfully Bev stepped backward as he walked out the door, which only got her two short-lived glares from Stan and Bill as they followed Richie out a few moments later.

His footsteps thumped loudly as he made his way down the stairs, the rest of the losers that had left were all back on the couch, obviously having some sort of conversation that quieted down as Richie came down, “You okay?” Mike asked, Richie, ignored him as he opened the front door and slammed it behind him in record time, making his way down to the street, frankly not giving a shit as the door opened a couple of moments later with confused yells of “Richie!” and “What the fuck?”

_It_ was back, and Richie would be damned if he was going to let _It_ get his new friends.


	2. Rebel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It probably caused him to relax a bit to much as he wasn’t focusing on where the kid probably was in the house anymore, so when he rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs, the last thing he expected was to hear an ear-piercing shriek and a sudden blow to the side of his head, and with an “Ow! Fuck!” He fell to the ground, his glasses being knocked off his face.
> 
> His hand moved up to rub at the side of his head as he looked up to see the same young boy standing over him with a baseball bat in hand and a horrified look on his face as he quickly dropped it in favor of kneeling down next to Richie, his hand scrambling for the others fallen glasses, “Holy shit dude, I’m so fucking sorry- you scared the crap out of me!”
> 
> Richie gratefully took back his glasses as they were offered to him, blinking as he turned to them as they offered a hand which Richie cautiously took, “I’m Finn Tozier,” He said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: vomiting, mild depictions of violence, non-graphic character death

**[81 Years Ago, 1920]**

Richie had been residing in the neibolt house the day he had met him, he had been quietly watching from his favorite spot up in one of the higher windows of the house, it was were he frequented the most, reading something that humans had made, a ‘comic book’ was what the human at the market place had called it those many years ago when Richie had first gotten it.

This one kind of reminded Richie a bit of himself, the character in the pictures had abilities to that of the creature humans had named ‘spiders’. Richie supposed that's what he was- well at least partly considering Richie had a very much more human appearance than a spider, the only parts of him not being human being the extra set of limbs and the more sharpened teeth- to the point where they were almost like fangs.

Richie blinked looking at the extra set of limbs that he had currently curled around himself in a sort of protective- and comforting matter, blowing a soft sigh as his gaze went from the comic book down to the street, basking in the idea of what it would be like had Richie been born human, just another clueless one who could live out a limited but happy life.

It was an odd thought to occur to him but the more he dwelled on it the more he wished it was true, he wasn’t entirely sure why he thought this way, all he knew was that he did not enjoy his current life and ways one bit at all, but what can you do when it's all your made for? All he can do is dream.

Richie's eyebrow quirked up as he looked below to see an alone someone enter the house, he had been so caught up in his thoughts he hadn’t even noticed them walk up to the house until now, closing the comic book and putting it to the side for later Richie allowed his extra limbs to deform, crunching and folding up into his back and he allowed his eyes to return to a normal deep brown rather than the black sclera and bright orange pupils they naturally sat at.

Flicking his eyes back down towards the street to see that the human was no longer standing out the front and instead must have entered the house, Richie huffed getting off from his seat at the window and begrudgingly shuffling down the stairs, from where he was he could hear the young boy mumbling to himself something about “a stupid dare” and “if I die I’m suing those fuckers.” which caused Richie to relax a bit, just some stupid kids doing stupid stuff.

It probably caused him to relax a bit too much as he wasn’t focusing on where the kid probably was in the house anymore, so when he rounded the corner at the bottom of the stairs, the last thing he expected was to hear an ear-piercing shriek and a sudden blow to the side of his head, and with an “Ow! Fuck!” He fell to the ground, his glasses being knocked off his face.

His hand moved up to rub at the side of his head as he looked up to see the same young boy standing over him with a baseball bat in hand and a horrified look on his face as he quickly dropped it in favor of kneeling next to Richie, his hand scrambling for the others fallen glasses, “Holy shit dude, I’m so fucking sorry- you scared the crap out of me!”

Richie gratefully took back his glasses as they were offered to him, blinking as he turned to them as they offered a hand that Richie cautiously took, “I’m Finn Tozier,” He said as their hands shook, “And you are?” He inquired as their hands separated, Richie frowned, narrowing his eyes at the human,

“Richie,” He finally grunted as a response as the both of them stumbled back up to their feet, Richie using the currently peeling wall beside him as support as he looked towards the boy to take in more features of him, the first and most confronting thing was that this was not a kid, rather he looked more in his mid-to-late teenage years. The second was that he was at least 6ft tall, causing him to practically tower over Richie, but he wasn’t tall in a threatening way, he was scrawny, and his limbs were lanky and he looked rather uncomfortable with himself.

He had pale skin, light brown eyes, and hair and there was slight stubble growing back on his chin, he was a generic awkward teen Richie quickly realized, he sighed reaching his hand up to touch as his head where the bat had struck, Richie didn’t feel pain so much as to the extent that humans did, however, there was still an uncomfortable throbbing there and he grimaced a bit as he pulled his hand back away to find blood lightly staining his fingertips.

“Oh shit, you’re fuckin’ bleeding, here let me-” The boy- or Finn cut himself off in favor of moving closer to Richie and using his hands to brush Richie’s curls out of the way to see where he had hit, in response to this Richie hissed- yes literally hissed at him batting him away quickly, “I’m fine.” He huffed.

Finn shook his head, “Nope you’re not,” He said, grabbing Richie’s wrist “C’mon my house isn’t too far away, I’ll help you clean the wound.” He said and before Richie could react he was being tugged out of the house, frowning, It had told him to never leave the house unguarded, to always be there in the years It wasn’t active, just in case.

In this case Richie hadn’t left the house in twenty-six years with It due to come back in roughly six months, he pouted a bit in thought as he was steered towards the front door by the human before thinking fuck it, after all every cycle nothing bad had ever happened when he was at the house so what were the chances that this one time he left that something bad would happen?

Besides, maybe this will help Richie to further understand the humans and the way they lived throughout their day to day lives, because despite the interest and curiosity of himself being discouraged by Pennywise he couldn’t help the ever-growing inquisitiveness that expanded in his chest with each day that passes in this boring house.

So Richie let himself be steered down the street and away from the house he was currently meant to be protecting, away and into town by this kid, this kid who didn’t even know who Richie was but wanted to help him, this kid that took him by surprise and hit him over the head with a bat, this kid who- was very talkative Richie was finding as they made their way down the street.

“I mean like, it was completely accidental but also dude what were you doing at that house?” Finn had asked, giving him a sideways smirk to which Richie responded by sticking his tongue out at the other, an action that caught himself by surprise as usually when he was befriending the humans he would take on a more serious persona, he would have his shoulders squared but also in a nervous hunch, however currently his shoulders were relaxed at his sides and he found himself in general relaxed in the presence of Finn despite only knowing him for a few minutes, it was strange- and it was different, but a good different, one that made an unfamiliar warm feeling well up in Richie’s chest.

Finn just replied with a soft chuckle which in turn made a ghost of a smile appear toy on Richie’s face, “Hey man, I’m just saying, it’s kinda creepy you were just stalking around the house alone!”

Richie just scoffed, “You were doing the exact same thing!” He shot back quickly, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Can’t prove it!” Finn said, smiling stupidly when Richie made an incoherent splutter of mixed noises, and he continued, feigning an innocent voice as he held his hand to his chest, the other one remaining with its light grip on the bat that he had picked up on the way out of the house, “My dearest Richie, are you suffering a concussion?” He asked, his voice progressively going high pitched as he spoke, for this, Richie shoved him swallowing his laughter he could feel wanting to bubble out.

This only made Finn continue his act out but more passionately as his hand moved up to his forehead in faux horror, “He’s getting violent! Oh dear, we must fix him up as quickly as we can!” He cried, grabbing Richie’s wrist and dragging him into the house they had taken to stop outside the front of.

Richie let out a soft “Oh,” as he was tugged through the front door, so this is what a human's house is actually meant to look like on the other side, because despite frequently talking to others younger humans he had never been inside one of their houses, the closest thing he came into was the marketplace that he liked to frequent when It was active and didn’t need him.

“Sit on the couch,” Finn instructed, pointing to the large piece of furniture, he had dropped the voice now and was now rummaging around underneath the countertop in the kitchen as Richie sat down, fumbling with his own hands as he tried not to make his observations of the house clear

It was clean, really clean inside, no dust or dirt was trekked inside, no cobwebs or overgrowth in sight, everything was neat and looked in properly in place- it was nice.

Finn suddenly plopped down next to him, a blue square looking thing in hand, he held it out to Richie who cautiously took it with furrowed eyebrows- it was cold? He looked back to Finn who was looking at him with an expectant gaze, maybe it was like that medicine stuff one of the others always had to take?

Hesitantly, Richie rose it up towards his mouth and when not protest came from Finn he bit down on it to which he let out a soft “Ow!” As Finn let out a shout of surprise wacking it away from Richie’s mouth.

“Did you just-” Finn had to cut himself off as he burst out laughing and Richie felt his cheeks heat up with embarrassment, “Did you just try to-” He tried again but couldn’t and doubled over clutching his stomach, “try to eat the ice pack?” He finally got out.

Richie just blushed harder.  
-

Richie had intended for it to be a one time thing, for them to only meet that once and then Richie would go back to living at the house on Neibolt on street, he would continue to stay on guard and watch until It came back once again, and It would be soon, It could come back anytime now which meant it was not a good idea whatsoever for Richie to be anywhere outside of the house.

But yet he still found himself constantly hanging out with Finn frequently still, they often would catch up whenever Richie got bored at the house which he found he did more often than he ever used to recently, ever since becoming well, friends with Finn. He found himself wanting more, wanting to make more memories, learn more about the human's lives, more than he ever had, he wanted to feel and experience life like they do, he wanted more of a purpose.

Finn helped give him that.

Richie had learned a lot in the last few months of him spending time with Finn, he learned that kids often frequented places called the ‘movies’ where they would watch people inside large screens act out storylines and interesting actions, Richie had been incredibly confused the first time Finn had taken him there and he was pretty sure that’s also when Finn started becoming suspicious of Richie’s origins.

He never outwardly said it but Richie got the vibe from him sometimes that he wanted to know more, he wanted to learn more about Richie and why Richie was so strange and didn’t know basic human things, Richie however always brushed him off.

He would sound insane, and frankly, he found himself not wanting to even tell Finn, it would probably scare him off and Richie felt a heavy feeling in his chest whenever he thought about how he had scared so many others like Finn but hadn’t known them.

How could he do that?

With each day passing Richie found himself hating himself, even more, regretting everything he had ever done, his chest tightening and a weight that hadn’t felt heavier on his shoulders felt like he could crumble under it any second and be crushed.

Richie didn’t understand why he felt this way, he felt all these terrible feelings over the very thing he was made to do, something he shouldn’t think twice about doing, was he broken?

Richie in the past had always tried to push these feelings away whenever they grew strong in his mind, and he usually could with effort, he was able to take his mind off what he was doing and get his job- his purpose done.

But it was like his life so far had been a spiral staircase and Finn had been a small pebble scattered on one of the stairs that Richie had accidentally tripped on and he was now falling in the downward spiral of the staircase and he couldn’t stop.

Currently Richie was sitting on a swing attached to a tree in the barrens and Finn was a couple of meters away sitting on the ground, both of them weren’t talking as they were both too busy indulging themselves in comics, after Richie had found out that Finn had a much larger comic collection compared to Richie’s which in reality, only consisted of two he had practically spent the night reading all of them whilst Finn slept, after all, Richie didn’t need much sleep, two or three hours could typically last him a fortnight. However, he often did follow humans sleeping patterns of sleeping at night and waking up when the sun rises again, anything to learn more about them and how they live, he supposed.

They were both sitting in comfortable silence, aside from the noise of animals such as bird, the occasional rumble of passing cars and the even more frequent of pages turning as they both read.

That’s when Richie felt it, the deep tug on his gut, one that only ever happened when It resurfaced, when It was waking up. he found himself quickly throwing the comic book to the ground and jumping off the tire swing he collapsed onto the dirt ground, not even reacting as a few stray pebbles dug into his palms as he retched violently onto the leaf-littered floor.

Vaguely hearing Finn’s “Holy shit,” before feeling his hand on Richie’s shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze of comfort as Richie continued for another couple of minutes before leaning backward, Finn carefully moving to sit down next to him with crossed legs, “Want to tell me what that was?” He asked, giving a small chuckle, “See something to Gorey wussy?” He asked, nodding towards the discarded comic book, chuckling lightly.

Richie shoved him away, a small smirk playing at his lips despite the despair expanding quickly in his chest and tightening in his throat because he couldn’t avoid it now- he couldn’t avoid the fact that he can’t go back to doing that. It’s stupid- he knows its stupid, he shouldn’t have a problem with doing it, its something he’s told himself so many times, that's just how it works, its how life works, some live, some die.

So why wouldn’t he be able to do it this time? It’s what he’s always done but even that thought now makes him feel sick to the point where he might as well start vomiting again.

Richie staggered to his feet, ignoring the offered hand from Finn, It had probably already noticed that he wasn’t at the house and that very thought made him want to vomit at the idea of the wrath it was probably in over that fact.

“I needa go,” He mumbled to Finn, adjusting his glasses as he looked up at the other who had concern flickering in their gaze which Richie made a point of ignoring, he needed to leave now before It found out the reason he hadn't been at the house was because he had been hanging out with a human.

But with that thought, Finn suddenly grabbed his wrist in an apparent panic to which Richie just looked up at him with a confused gaze, but Finn just pointed a little further away into the woods and when Richie looked in the direction he felt his stomach drop.

It was there, its basic clown form, and he was looking directly at Richie, a knowing look in his malicious expression, eyes dark and a menacing grin forming on Its face accompanying Its sharpened teeth.

It didn’t have to speak words for Richie to see the wrath and bloodlust that shone so clearly in darkened eyes.

Then It started advancing towards them, “Shit, shit, shit! Go, go go!” Richie screeched, his voice shrill and piercing as Finn stumbled backward, his hand still on Richie’s wrist as he did causing Richie to follow back with him.

It was only when It let out a loud guttural growl that Finn swept his bat up off the ground- something Richie had found out he took everywhere with him after hanging out with Finn a few times and asking him- for protection Finn had told him.

Not like it was going to do much now, Richie thought bitterly to himself.

They were sprinting through the forest now, their shoes thuds against the ground were practically silent compared to the blood roaring in Richie’s ears.

Finn was repeating the same chain of three words, which consisted of, “What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck.” Over and over again

Richie stumbled a bit as his foot got caught in the branch but yet Finn still wasn’t letting go of his wrist and continued to tug Richie along and the action made Richie want to cry, this was happening because of him, Finn could die because of him, yet Finn refused to leave him behind.

Somewhere, although Richie would deny it, as they ran, in the back of his mind, he knew it was hopeless.

And indeed it was as no more than mere moments later that there were sudden and loud, skittering thuds coming from behind them and Richie didn;t even need to look over his shoulder to know what he would see, Finn however did and he let out an ear-piercing shriek that made Richie wince and anything that hadn’t already fled in the general area were probably well on their way now.

Richie gasped as a large weight from behind sent both him and Finn sprawling and he let out a hacking cough as all the breath was knocked out of his lungs, turning around and scrambling back, his breath hitching as Pennywise had taken on its large true spider form and was looking down at Finn with hungry eyes.

Richie scrambled to his feet, throwing himself between Pennywise and Finn, his eyes narrowing as Its gaze landed down on him, “Richie, Richie, Richie,” It said, low, menacing and mocking, “Oh! How I didn’t expect to come to not only find you not where I told you to stay,” It said, in its disgusting giddy and raspy voice, “But you’re also befriending!” It continued, giving a laugh that sent chills down Richie’s spine, “Befriending a human!”

“R-Richie, w-what is it talking about?” Finn spoke up from behind him, and Richie wanted to cry at the fear quivering through Finn’s, however, he forced himself to ignore him, taking a step backward as It took one forward, “Stay away from him!” Richie spat fiercely, although he doubted he looked even remotely threatening.

“Oh!” It laughed, eyes shining before a mocking pout appeared on Its face, a fake sort of sadness running through its next words, “You didn’t tell your friend what you are?” It said, spitting the word ‘friend’ as if it were an insult.

A few months ago Richie would have thought it was too.

It took another step forward, but this time Richie held his ground, his eyes turning a bright glowing orange as his deadlights flared to life and his sclera darkened, “I said stay away!” Richie snarled, spider legs unfolding and snapping into place in a quick moment as It took another step forward and Richie pretended to not hear Finn’s voice hitch with fear from behind him, it sounded further away than what it had before though which Richie took as a good sign, the further away Finn was the better.

It only glared down at him, Richie bent his knees a little bit, baring fangs that grew out in a matter of seconds, ready to attack if he needed too to which It just laughed at him, “You don’t scare me, child.” It grinned as they began moving around in a circle, and Richie winced a bit, because it was true, sure for a human’s lifespan he would have been considered old, however in perspective compared to Its age of billions of years he was yet but still a child, a younger replica, a broken replica he thought to himself.  
Still, he continued to stand his ground, he wasn’t going to let himself or Finn die without a fight, however, the idea of the latter dying because of Richie’s selfish faults made him shiver a bit at the prospect.

It hardly seemed impressed with Richie’s attempts to make it back down, instead, grinning the spider claws connected to its arms grew in length and were suddenly coming for Richie to which his eyes narrowed and he quickly leaped out of their way as they cemented themselves into the ground where he had just been standing.

He landed perched on top of one of them, wobbling a little bit at first as he gained his balance in a few moments before looking up to look at It, but It just grinned, like It was expecting that to happen, like it knew it would and Richie wouldn’t be surprised if It had.

Richie, breathed out heavily through his nose as he leapt towards It’s face before letting out a ‘_whump_’ noise as It rose its other arm to block him halfway through the leap and his chest collided with the side of It’s claw, letting out a small wheeze as he scrambled to hold onto it as It tried flinging him off, waving the claw wildly and Richie only let go when It swung the claw up into the air, limbs spreading out as Richie became airborne, looking down as he began falling back down, arms extended as he landed with an impact on Its face, sinking his spider limbs into each side, ignoring the way It screeched and threw its head back, gritting his teeth as he allowed his limbs to pierce further.

It stumbled back a bit on large spider appendages as Richie furthered his attack before it let out a screech and before Richie knew it he was being thrown across the clearing before thumping into the tree, knocking all the breath out of him as he fell to the ground sputtering and spitting up droplets of blood onto the forest floor, chest heaving as he desperately tried to get air back into his lungs.

His gaze snapped up from where he lay against the forest floor as the familiar loud and thudding skittering noise approached him and he blinked, slightly disoriented as he noticed that It was coming towards him again, and he swallowed as they locked eyes in an eerily familiar way, but then both of their attentions were distracted as It was hit in the side of the head with what appeared to be a small rock, both of their gazes traveling to see Finn standing there, huffing and a beyond furious expression across his face.

“Finn.” Richie breathed out softly, still unable to gain enough air in his lungs as he watched with wide eyes as It abandoned Its focus from Richie entirely to move towards Finn who in return stumbled back and Finn could see the way he stiffened and fearfully swallowed, as if he hadn’t expected It to abandon Richie for him.

Richie clutched his chest as he tried to push himself up, “Run, you idiot!” He yelled Horsley as but Finn, however, seemed frozen, like a deer in the headlights and the sight of him so afraid made Richie’s blood run cold like a lake in winter.

And then within mere and unpredictable moments, moments that seemed to move too slowly to be real, one of Its arms extended and stretched,

And in one quick movement It had impaled Finn Tozier right through the middle with a sickening squelsh noise.

Richie screamed.

**[Present Time, 2001]**

Richie let out an incredibly manly yelp as a hand landed on his shoulder, he had been so caught up in his thoughts as he walked down the street, his eyes darting this way and that in sign of any movement

In any sign of It,

he hadn’t noticed Bill and Stanely follow him out of the house and on instinct Richie snapped his hand up to grab the one on his shoulder, using it to spin himself around and drew his fist back, ready to punch whichever asshole thought messing with him would be a good idea but it soon went slack when he looked up to see it was just Stanely who had immediately let go of Richie and put his hands up in a surrendering manner.

Richie wanted to scream at them for following him, because they didn’t know, they didn’t know what was happening, they didn’t know what was going to start happening to the kids of the town soon, they didn’t know it _wasn’t safe_ for them to be around Richie.

How was he meant to explain that to them?

He couldn’t.

So instead he let out a forced laugh, “You scared the shit out of me Staniel.” He said, only giving them half his attention as whilst his eyes remained trained on the two losers in front of him, he was still actively hearing and focusing on the surroundings, making sure, needing to know, if It was here or not.

“Yeah well you scared the shit out of all of us!” He hissed, before shivering a bit, only just realising the cold of the night, but he ignored it as he continued “Storming out on all of us like that?” He asked, before grabbing Richie’s wrist, “What’s going on with you ‘Chee, you can trust us.” He said and for the first time Richie made eye contact with Bill who was staring at him, concern in his gaze.

Richie’s gaze dropped back down to the ground, “I’m fine Stan.” He said, “I just think I should be getting back to my place now, my parents are probably worried because I didn’t tell them I was going out tonight.”

That was a lie, Richie had no parents, Richie had no home, when he wasn’t with the losers club he was either wandering the town or living in the clubhouse Ben had built two summers ago, Richie had been grateful ever since Ben had made it, he loved the little puffball and now Richie had a proper place to sleep that wasn’t at any of the losers houses.

Richie knew they talked about it, the fact that they had never met or seen his parents, the fact that none of their own parents knew any adults in town with the same last name as Richie, the fact that he has never dropped a single hint about where he lived.

They rarely brought it up with him though, ever making offhand comments about it whenever the topic accidentally came up and it would be quickly forgotten after Richie dismissed it.

“We-well thu-then we’ll w-walk you.” Bill said, stepping forward so he was next to Stan, Richie just shrugged, “I’m good thanks for the offer.” He said, taking a step back and for the first time allowing his eyes to do a sweep of the surroundings nervously.

“C’mon Richie, we’ve never been to your house.” Stan argued, “and it's freezing out.” He added after a few moments as he brought his hands up to rub at his bare arms.

Richie narrowed his eyes, trying not to get mad, because he loved them, but why couldn’t they just leave him alone when he needed them too, “Nah, my house is on the other side of town,” He lied smoothly, “I’ll be good, you guys go back inside.”

Stanley let out a frustrated sigh and Richie winced because he knew he was pushing it, however he had relaxed a bit, maybe It wasn’t going to seek him out, after all, It didn’t during its last cycle either, whilst it had reawoken and fed on kids as it normally did, It hadn’t contacted Richie at all.

“Wuh-Well then none of us ar-are going,” Bill stuttered, frowning a bit, “I-Im not luh-letting you walk a-across tow-wn alu-alone.” He said grabbing Richie’s wrist and dragging him back towards the house, leaving no room for complaint as he ignored Richie’s stutterd out protests.

-

Richie didn’t sleep, it had been three hours since Bill dragged him back inside and Richie had since refused to speak to any of the losers whenever they asked him if he was okay or what that entire ordeal had been.

He however had made a point of ignoring the questions and anytime one of them shot him a concerned glance, or shrugged them off whenever they tried to place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

But he was too busy focusing on listening, and making off-sided glances at the windows, looking for any signs of movement, he had made a few off-hand comments throughout the night to try and seem normal, but he couldn’t help the anxiety and fear expanding in his chest with each moment that passed.

He had thought it was enough, that they would have dropped the situation, in his mind he had acted relatively normal the rest of the evening, at least enough to the point where the others would forget by the morning.

He was the opposite of right, as despite the fact that he had still cracked jokes throughout the night whenever he could, Eddie could still tell something was up with him which is why when he woke up a few hours after all the losers had fallen asleep he wasn’t as surprised when he woke up to find that Richie was still awake.

However, what was strange was that he wasn’t doing anything to entertain himself, he was rather perched on the edge of the armchair in the living room and the more Eddie watched the more he realised Richie’s eyes were darting between the windows, they would stay on one for a few seconds before moving to the next, and after he watched the windows for a while his eyes would glance down to each of the losers, moving from one another.

He was stiff and upright, it was clear he was wide awake and alert.

“What you doin’ Rich?” He asked softly and Richie’s neck might as well have nearly snapped with how quickly he turned to face Eddie, eyes wide for a second before softening and his body relaxed, but even in the dark Eddie could tell it was forced.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Richie shrugged, as he sunk back from his perched position to lean back in the arm chair.

“Right…” Eddie said softly, his brows furrowing in concern.

“Go back to sleep Eds.” Richie said quietly, “I’ll go to sleep soon.”

“Don’t call me that.” Eddie huffed but rolled back over anyways.

Eddie however, didn’t fall back asleep, and he also knew, Richie didn't sleep either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, woo, here we go, I'm officially gonna be writing/finishing this :D
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!! I promise in the next one theres gonna be more of the losers club, I just kinda need to flesh out the backstory before I can continue with the story making sense, you get me? Heck yeah you do!
> 
> Also yes, the character is named after Finn Wolfhard because I do what I want and I like irony.
> 
> Posting schedule for this will probably be posted on Saturdays or Sundays, each chapter will (hopefully) consist of roughly 5,000 words as I try to spit out 1,000 a day from Monday to Thursday
> 
> Due to medical reason I also get two free periods at school instead of doing sport (scoliosis gang where you at?) so if I don't have it done by those period I'll probably use them to write so it's almost guaranteed it should be updated on the weekend unless its a week where I'm truly not motivated to do anything
> 
> Also yes since posting the first chapter the timeline has changed a bit, I pushed it back too 2001 instead of having it in 2017 in case I ever wanna maybe take on what would happen in It chapter two in this universe.
> 
> I don't care that spider-man wasn't invented until the 1960's you can fight me I just wanted ti have them reading comic books and needed something to compare what Richie is in this, because yeah the idea of him having spider-legs coming out of his back was inspired by the Iron Spider suit
> 
> Anygay, thats all from me this week and let me know what you think or just tell me how your day has been :D 
> 
> Bye guys!!


	3. Meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie squinted, watching the toaster intensley before letting out what sounded to Beverley a hiss as the toast popped back up and he stumbled back, falling over onto the tiled floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings;; Mentioned abuse, Violence, Stabbing (lightly), medical stuff, Henry being a dick

_[ 3 Years ago, 1998 ] _

Richie let out a small puff of breath, blinking and watching as he could see it in the cold and crisp morning air, his legs were swinging back and forth, gently kicking at the cliff face he was currently seated upon in the quarry, he had been sitting here for a few hours, quietly grabbing rocks and throwing them down into the water, watching as they rippled and destroyed the smooth stillness of the surface of the water.

He frowned as he reached behind himself, his hand searching the ground for a few moments before his fingers curled around a pebble and throwing it down, watching it as it fell downwards towards the water, hearing the satisfying plop sound as it broke contact and disappeared below the surface.

He grimaced as he noticed the sun had gradually risen and was now overhead.

Huffing as he rose to his feet, wincing as he stretched his legs that had become numb countless hours ago, he really needed to stop sitting places for extended hours at times. Sticking his hands in his pockets as he looked down to the water below for a few more moments before turning on his heel and walking back towards the town in a craving of some sort of entertainment.

Not that there wasn’t much Richie hadn’t already done, or places he hadn’t visited.

In fact, he wasn’t even sure why he still remained in Derry, it was mainly a fear of not knowing how to work his way around in the human world outside of the smallness of Derry, hell he still barely knew anything about how people in Derry work.

His eyes darted down the road as he emerged from the forested area, his eyes taking in the familiar sight, the kissing bridge, a place where many young couples from Derry liked to come and carve their initials into, Richie scrunched his nose at the thought.

The closer he looked the more he could see, many initials had been crossed out, presumably from one of the participants in the relationship when it hadn’t worked out properly in the end.

Someone had even gone as far as to attempt to completely rid of their carvings by turning into one giant and messy scribble.

He clicked his tongue in thought for a few moments before turning and walking back down the road and towards the main town of Derry, his sneakers kicking at rocks and pebbles as he made his way down the road, humming a soft tune to himself as he did so.

  
His mind was caught off guard at a sudden crunching noise beneath his feet so and he winced when he looked down to see he had accidentally walked right into a pile of glass from a smashed beer bottle that must have been thrown out of a car.

Wincing he lifted his shoe to look underneath, happy to find no glass shards had been facing upright enough to sink into the soles of his sneakers.

The happiness quickly dissipated as he was suddenly yanked back by the back of his shirt, letting out an ‘oof’ as he landed on his back, blinking up as he sucked breath back into his lungs, watching as another kid, maybe fourteen or fifteen leaned over him and was sneering right in his face.

“Sup four eyes,” The kid leered, and Richie blinked before pushing himself up on his hands, “The fuck dude?” He snarled, ready to give the kid a piece of his mind before gasping as a boot came in contact with his chest, knocking the air out of him as his back hit the guardrail on the side of the road. 

“Haven’t seen you around before, what you doing creepin’ around the woods fag?” He chuckled, grabbing Richie’s shoulder to slam it against it the guard rail as he crouched down over Richie, boxing him in, and Richie just gritted his teeth, snapping his eyes up to the boy.

“Yeah, you looking for a good one? I charge a bit more than your dad probably does though,” he spat back, pushing himself back and wrinkling his nose at the hot smell of the other's breath in his face.

This only seemed to edge the other on further as he reached into his pocket and pulling a knife out in one smooth movement, his grin widening as it flicked open and Richie’s eyes widened behind his black frames. 

This kid, this probably fourteen-year-old kid, just pulled out a fucking knife on him. Who the fuck even lets their kids walk around with knives?

Richie instantly growled, using his leg and pulling it back from underneath the boy before lurching it forward into the kid's stomach, because no thank you, no ho ho, he was not getting caught up in shit with the towns resident psychopath, not today, no thank you sir.

The moment Richie had scrambled to his feet however, not even being able to stabilize his footing, two other kids that he had seen but hadn’t particularly taken into account before now were on either side of him, grabbing his arms and smashing them against the guard rail and pinning them there. 

His breath hitched and his eyes narrowed, he could easily beat the shit out of these shitheads if he wanted too, and God did he really want too. But it would only cause more problems, such as for starters if they went back into town saying there was some random and unidentified kid wandering around the barrens with ten times their strength people might start looking for him, and that would be a huge mess. And yeah they were crazy but Richie had promised himself, after,

(Finn,)

the incident, that he wasn’t going to hurt anyone else.

Just when Richie began looking for another way out of the situation, three more voices started yelling and Richie’s head snapped up in the direction of where they came from, three other boys all stood a good few feet away, bike wheels still spinning behind them from where they must have just dumped them.

One was short and had dark brown hair, with big brown doe eyes, and the way he was stanced alongside his panting breaths made him look much like a disgruntled cat.

The next one was significantly taller than the other, this one also had dark brown hair but it was flopped over his face in a way that would have made him look emo if it wasn’t for the rest of his casual wear.

The last one Richie noticed had curly light brown, almost dusty blonde hair and he was the tallest of the three of them, and he had pale narrowed eyes and Richie had to a double-take because,

( “I'm Stanley, and this is Charles.” The tall one with curly hair had said, gesturing to his friend, )

Richie’s heartbeat picked up a considerable amount because there was no fucking way, he had died over one hundred years ago.

“La-Lay o-off Bowers!” The emo one yelled, taking a step forward with narrowed eyes, clearly the ‘leader’ out of the three new boys.

The boy in front of him, or ‘Bowers’ Richie supposed, smirked flicking his knife in his hand, “W-W-W-What are you gonna do if I don’t?” He sneered, mocking the other boys stutter in a way that made anger boil in Richie’s chest,

But even then, he couldn’t stop staring at the curly-haired one, couldn’t help the way his eyes took in the familiar sight,

“C’mon man, just leave him alone!” The short one said, and Richie just blinked in confusion, why were they doing this?

Richie didn’t even know these people, or did he? Because he was honest-to-a-God-that-doesn’t-exist certain that, that boy there was Stanley Uris,

Bowers just chuckled, smirking before in one quick movement he stabbed the knife into Richie’s thigh which instantly caused Richie’s mind to snap away from thoughts that had been going through his mind at one hundred miles an hour, “Motherfuck-” He began but was cut off as he made a noise of pain when Bowers twisted the knife whilst it was inside his thigh, making an ugly squelching noise as he did so,

“Stop it!” The short one screeched as Richie let out a gasp of relief as it was pulled back out, his leg, however, unfortunately, buckled beneath him as the other two let go of his arms, sending him crashing to the ground and he vaguely felt the pain of the gravel digging into his knees.

He watched as Bowers began stalking towards the other boys before everyone's attention at the scene quickly snapped to a cop car that was pulling up and came to a squealing halt, the window rolled down to reveal a scowling officer.

“Get in the car Henry.” He ordered, a darkened expression on his face that almost made even Richie shiver, Bowers looked at the three boys, promptly spat on the ground in front, “We’re not done here losers,” He said to the lot of them, turning around to look at Richie who only defiantly glared back, Bowers smirked before turning on his heel and stalking towards the car and getting in, making a point of slamming the door as he did.

As he did this Richie vaguely noticed his friends retreating back down the road.

As soon as the car started rolling away Richie grabbed onto the hand railing, grimacing as he forced himself to his feet, letting out a noise of surprise as two of the boys were suddenly at his sides, helping stabilize him.

“Ho-Holy shit,” The emo one said as they all looked to where blood was pooling around the wound on his leg, while the shorter one took in a wheezing breath.

“Ah, just a light stab wound.” Richie shrugged, trying to push them away but this time it was the small one that grabbed his shoulders, “Stop moving it you idiot!” He snapped before reaching down into his fanny pack which had Richie quirking an eyebrow up because what twelve year old carries a fanny pack?

“Eddie you can’t patch up a stab wound, we’ll have to take him to the hospital.” The one that Richie at the point was convinced was a replica of Stanley said as the short one, or Eddie continued to dig through the fanny pack until his eyes lit up and he pulled out a cloth.

At least this look-a-like didn’t seem to recognize Richie at all, maybe it was just someone who coincidentally looked like the first life Richie ever took. 

“I know that idiot, but we can’t leave it open!” He snapped, and that was when Richie’s brain caught up with what they were talking about and this time he succeeded in pushing them away, “Woah, no no,” He began, giving them a sheepish smile as he leaned against the railing to ease the pain off his leg, “No hospitals, I’m fine.” He said, because he was, the wound would probably only take a week or two at most to completely heal.  
“There's a stab wound.” Stanley-clone stated, Richie nodded, swallowing as he managed to hold his gaze, “In your leg,” Richie nodded again, “and you think you're fine?” 

Richie nodded.

The other one's jaw opened and closed a few times before his hands went up to his hair and pulled at it, Richie didn’t think he was going to find words anytime soon “It was a light stab.” He added, giving a lopsided smile to the taller boy.

His eyes went comically wide at that “Oh! I get it! Oh! Only a light stab! Oh, wonderful! Let's put a bandaid on it and send you on your way then!” He said shrilly.

Richie nodded and the other just let out a sound that was somewhere between a screech and a groan as he turned away from Richie.

“Ow! Fuck!” Richie hissed, not having noticed Eddie until now had crouched down to look at his leg and had just fucking poked at it with fucking latex gloves on his hands, okay why the fuck was this kid just carrying around medical supplies?

“Do you mind!” Richie asked dramatically, moving his leg away as Eddie stood back up, “Well do you mind getting it infected?” Eddie asked rhetorically as he adjusted his grip on the cloth he had grabbed earlier and with no warning pressed it to the wound firmly.

“Oi! You little shit!” Richie hissed, his hand immediately going down to where Eddie was holding the cloth but Eddie just used his other hand to push it away and glared at him with a ‘try me’ look.

After a few moments, Richie let out a breath of annoyance through his nose, “Gotta ask, why do you carry, what is essentially a first aid kit on you? It’s a bit overkill don’t ya think Eds?” He asked, winking on the nickname.

“Don’t call me that.” The other boy spat back fiercely as he began readjusting the cloth, not that Richie was really paying any mind to that now. 

“Aw, why not Eds?” He asked, smirking, his response, however, elicited a pained gasp as there was a sharp tug on his thigh where Eddie had tied the cloth around his leg. “That was rude.” Richie hissed as the shorter boy straightened up.

“You reek dude, when was the last time you showered?” Eddie countered which only had Richie blinking in confusion.

“Can we leave him here?” Stanley-look-a-like asked, raising an unimpressed eyebrow and Eddie nodded in agreement, “I like that idea, let's go.” He said, but the one Emo just let out a scoff, “C-Come on, y-you can ride d-double w-with me on silver.” He said, to which Richie squinted in confusion, what the hell was that supposed to mean?

But then he watched as they all picked up bikes and he grimaced a bit because Bill wanted him to ride, double, on one of.. Those.

“I thought the idea was to help me not to make me more injured.” He said, only really half-joking as Emo rolled the bike up next to him.

“Y-You’ll be fine, get-get o-on al-l-ready.” Emo huffed, looking down at Richie with a challenging expression and Richie returned it for only a few moments before making a show of let out a large sigh and hopping on.

-

On the ride back to what he was assuming was the emo’s house Richie had found out that the resident emo was actually named Bill, and the Stanley-look-alike was…. Literally named Stanley as well. 

Richie had practically felt his heart seize at that but before he could get a word out Stanley had gone on too explain that it was ‘interesting’ because he was named after one of his relatives from a few generations back that had gone missing and had never been found.

And Richie found his gut twisting in a mix of swirling emotions, he couldn’t tell if he had felt relief or intense guilt at that, his mouth had gone dry and he hadn’t said much more after that, and he most certainly didn’t look at Stanley after that. 

They were inside now, well, inside the garage and Richie watched from his place situated on a worn-down couch as Bill pulled the door down before flicking the light switch on.

“Remind me again, why we’re not taking him to the hospital to let them deal with him?” Stanley asked, narrowing his eyes, “Seems a bit sketchy to me.”

“Aw Staniel, c’mon, I know you love me.” He said, winking at the other, now that Richie looked closer and knew this Stanley Uris was very much not the other he had noticed quite a few, subtle differences, that he liked to focus on more than the similarities.

The way his face was a bit more curved and less sharp, the faintest trace of freckles that dotted his face, and his eyes were more wide.

Eddie had disappeared inside the house as soon as they had arrived and Richie startled as he the door into the garage slammed open with a bit more force than necessary as Eddie made his entrance. 

However in his hands he carried what appeared to be quite a few medical supplies to which Richie wince, he didn’t want to make them waste their stuff on something that would heal in a matter of weeks, “You guys don’t have to do this, I’ll be fine.”

All three of them looked at him like he had grown three heads, “Okay at this point I don’t even understand how you haven’t cried yet.” Eddie breathed out quickly, “Because that's a stab wound, in your thigh, where a knife has literally gone through your flesh.” He added on hastily before turning from Richie to drop all the medical supplies onto the coffee table.

Richie shrugged, “Could be worse.”

Eddie sputtered for a few moments before giving up on whatever it was that he was going to say and gesturing for Richie to prop his leg up on the coffee table from his place on the couch.

Richie hesitated a moment but when Eddie continued to stare at him he reluctantly did so. Well, he tried to tell ‘em.

“So,” He said breathing out through his nose because this silence sure was uncomfortable with two of them looking at him like he was a puzzle and the other patching up a stab wound that really wasn’t that bad.

“You know that kid back there, he a friend of yours?” He asked, raising a brow at Bill when the others scoffed in response but it was Stanley who spoke up, “You really don’t know who Henry is?”

“Uh… am I supposed too?” Richie asked, directing his gaze towards Stan who sat down on an old spinny chair, clasping his hands between his legs.

“Mo-Most k-kids do and try t-to stay c-clear of him,” Bill said, scrunching up his nose as if even the thought of the other kid disgusted him.

“Yeah, you gotta be real unlucky to end up on his shitlist, and we’re about as high on it as you can get,” Eddie added as he wiped away the blood that had now slowed down to a slight trickle.

Richie only hummed in response before letting out a gasp of pain as Eddie sprayed something onto the wound and he jerked it back, holding his leg up to his chest and away from the eleven-year old’s medical wrath.

Eddie didn’t seem fazed by it and reached back out, presumably to take Richie’s leg back but in the spur of the moment, all Richie knew was the pure animal instinct he had been created with and he bared his teeth, hissing at the boy who only drew back slightly an almost comical expression on his face.

Stanley only smirked in response as Richie bunched his shoulders after regaining himself and realizing what he did, “Did you just hiss at him?” He sniggered, even Bill was hiding a small smile behind his hand and Richie felt himself bristle, not that it meant anything against the warm feeling expanding in his chest.

  
-

It was a few months later after that incident, the three boys, whilst still a bit hesitant to let Richie leave without seeing a proper medical professional had offered him to let their parents drive him home but Richie had waved off the offer immediately but when they refused and left to get Bill’s parents Richie found himself slipping out of the window, not knowing how to work the large door that they had initially come in through. 

Richie had stayed there for at least two hours after Eddie had finished patching up his leg to the best of his eleven-year-old abilities, because despite the situation, they had kicked it off really well and Richie had been able to tell if he didn’t leave he was going to become emotionally attached.

That’s not something he could afford to do again.

Not something he intended to do again.

But fate was and oh so cruel thing.

Richie was currently sitting in one of his favorite spots in the barrens, on the lowest branch of a large and sturdy tree that overlooked the lake, he was shaking a little bit at the coldness of the night and his skin had developed prominent goosebumps.

He was leaned up against the trunk, picking at his fingernails when he heard soft footsteps approaching, which was strange, considering it was the middle of the night and no one ever came out this far into the barrens at this time.

Richie frowned watching from the branch as a young girl with red hair that resembled flames walked below the tree and to the edge of the water, her stride never faltering or hesitating in what she was doing, as if she had done this before, perhaps on nights when Richie was elsewhere.

Richie couldn’t see what she was wearing aside from the large fur coat that swamped her frame as she sat down at the edge of the water, further enough away so that the soft and small waves that lapped up against the shore wouldn’t touch her, but close enough that the ground beneath her was most likely damp. 

For a few minutes, the two of them sat in silence, Richie quietly observing the girl as she sat quietly at the water's edge, in hindsight it was probably creepy but there was no point in introducing himself now as then she would know that he had been watching her this entire time.

“Not going to introduce yourself then?” She finally spoke up, not turning her head which caused Richie to freeze up, was she talking to him?

After a few more moments she turned around to look directly at where he was sitting and they locked eyes.

“It’s rude to watch people.” She said, her eyes sparkling a bit in the moonlight as a soft smile graced her features. 

Richie swallowed a bit on being called out before giving his own smile back as he jumped out of the tree, landing with a soft thump “How’d you know I was here?” He asked, had she seen him when she initially came down or had she just felt someone watching her and decided to call out to see if there had been.

“Well when you’re sitting on the lowest branch of the biggest tree here, it’s pretty obvious.” She said, giggling a bit and Richie joined in as he walked over and plopped himself down next to her, crossing his legs as he turned to her. “Huh, guess so.” He replied, “So, what brings Molly Ringwald here in the middle of the night?” He asked, giving her a shit-eating grin as she flipped him off.

“It’s Beverley, and I could ask the same thing to you stalker.” She said, turning to face him fully now, and that's when Richie noticed she had a bruise blossoming on the left side of her face and it was easy to connect the dots as to why she was here.

Richie looked back up to meet her eyes and there was a mutual understanding that passed between them in looks before Richie shrugged, “Guess we both have issues.” 

Beverley gave an airy laugh, “Guess so.” She murmured, and Richie smiled softly in response as both of them looked back to the lake, sitting in a comfortable silence for a few minutes before a particularly strong gust of when blew through and Richie shivered, causing Beverley to give him a concerned sideways glance and promptly taking off the large coat she had been wearing and draping it over both of their shoulders to which Richie gave her a soft smile at.

It was at least an hour of them both sitting there, sometimes in silence, sometimes quietly talking about random topics and stuff that interested them.

In that time they had moved so that Richie now had his head resting on Beverley’s thigh as she still sat crossed leg, running her hand through his hair. 

It had been quiet for a few minutes since their last talk before Beverley spoke up again, “I think it’s getting to be a bit too cold to stay out much longer.” She murmured and Richie had hummed his agreement, finding that he didn’t particularly want her to leave.

_( Leave like everyone and everything else. )_

  
She sighed, gently tapping Richie’s head as a signal for him to get up and he reluctantly did, sitting on the ground and watching as she stood up and brushed herself off before offering him a hand.

He blinked in confusion.

“Well, I’m not going to leave you here dumbass.” She humored, rolling her eyes, Richie grinned taking her hand and allowing her to pull him to his feet, standing next to her now he can tell he overestimated her height and she was a couple of centimeters underneath his eyeline and not the same height as him as he had initially thought. 

She pressed herself up next to him before once again throwing the coat over their shoulders, each of them grabbing one side and pulling it over themselves as they began walking, Beverley leading the way.

“So, where are we going ginger?” He asked winking, to which she scoffed, sticking her tongue out in retaliation and Richie just did the same thing in response as they both glared at each other, it only lasted a few moments before Richie couldn’t help it and let out a small giggle and they both lost it.

Once they had calmed down Bev spoke up, “Too my friend's house, Ben and Mike, they’re great guys, they were planning on doing some sort of history project tonight, for some reason, it's not even for school! They just like it!” She said, smiling fondly before continuing, “So I say, we go and spice up what is currently a very boring study session.” 

Richie grinned mischievously in response.

-

When they finally got to what Richie had been told was Ben’s house as Mike lived on a farm that was a bit further out of town he quietly stumbled after Beverley as she ducked around to the back of the house, giggling as Richie nearly fell over.

She tapped three times on a window that was the only one with a light on behind it and a few moments later a kid who looked a bit more on the chubby side slid it open, “Beverley?” He said, but it sounded like more of a question and Richie watched as recognition dawned on the boy's face as his eyes flicked down to the bruise on her cheek for a moment.

“Yeah, it's me, I know I’m a queen, now let me in.” She said as Ben stepped back and Beverley pushed herself in through the window Richie considered leaving then and there, not wanting to intrude exactly now that they were here, but Beverley grabbed his arm and basically yanked him behind her, causing both of them to fall to the floor with an ungraceful crash which caused a shout of surprise to come from the other side of the room and when Richie looked up he found another boy sitting at a desk in a chair that had been spun around to face the window, Richie gave him a sheepish wave before letting out an _‘oof’_ noise as Beverley pushed him over once again in her haste to get up.

“That was very rude of you.” He said as he sat himself up, glaring up at her when she just winked in response, “Nice knowing you as well stalker.”

“I’m sorry, who is he?” The other kid asked, voice edging on a cautious side but Beverley just waved him off, “This is Richie, Richie this is Ben,” She said, gesturing to the one who had opened the window to let them in, “and that’s Mike.” now gesturing towards the one who was sat in the chair. 

Richie grinned as Mike continued to stare at him with a squinted gaze, “Hey man, if you need to go jack off after seeing me I won’t blame you-” He said before getting cut off as Beverley whacked him over the head, “None of that here!” She said, even though she was grinning at the remark and so was Ben as Mike was letting out a string of incoherent syllables.

Despite the throbbing at the back of his head, Richie found himself laughing, and soon the others were as well.

-

It was an hour later now and Mike, Ben, and Richie had all hit it off almost immediately with one another and it had Beverley smiling as Richie helped the dorks a bit with their research.

That wasn’t to say that things didn’t go unsaid, sometimes Ben would glance at her and mouth questions, probably the same kind Beverley was asking herself.

Richie looked like he hadn’t bathed, slept or eaten for a month, the kid was scrawny and whilst the baggy hawaiian shirt and jeans covered it decently it was easy to see he had a relatively underweight frame, and when Beverley had easily been able to yank him through the window earlier, that had been an entire accident as she had underestimated just how light he was. 

His clothes were crumpled and whilst relatively clean, still had a few scuff marks on them.

And whilst he didn’t exactly smell all that bad, there were definitely kids at school who smell worse, just looking at him you could tell his skin was dirty and his hair, if you looked close enough, had dirt and other fibers throughout the curls. 

Beverley had been combing her fingers through her hair and watching them silently before Ben shifted back on his chair, “Any of you guys hungry?”

“Hell yeah, I haven’t eaten for like a week I think,” Richie said in a casual way that made it sound as if he had simply forgotten and Beverley felt her throat close up a bit at that as alarm flashed briefly in both Ben and Mike’s eyes. 

Ben visibly swallowed before putting a smile on his face, “Let's go grab some snacks then.” 

So the four of them thumped down the stairs, Mike first with Richie following close behind, however, once they reached the kitchen Ben who had been behind Beverley grabbed her arm so they were stopped at the doorway.

“Beverley where did you find him?” He asked, giving a sideways glance to Richie before looking back towards her, “I went to the quarry after my dad….” She started trailing off a bit for a few moments, “anyways, he was there and we just started talking I guess.” She said.

“He looks like he hasn’t bathed or eaten in weeks Bev.” Ben said, his voice lacing with concern to which she just replied with a soft “I know.” Before they both looked over into the kitchen where it looked like Mike was planning on making bacon and eggs on toast, both her and Ben frowned as Richie reached for one of the eggs still in the cartoon, he seemed to analyze it for a few moments, turning it around in his hand before lifting it and… biting into it with a loud crunch.

Mike turned around at the noise and let out an unholy sound as Richie looked at him with wide eyes when he snatched the egg away from him, but it was too late as Richie now had the thick goop running down his hands. “What the hell man?” He practically screeched, throwing the egg into the bin under the sink.

Richie blinked, his eyes traveling to Ben and Bev, “What?” He asked, confusion apparent in his eyes as the two walked further into the kitchen and Mike dragged him over to the sink to wash his hands.

“You normally eat raw eggs?” Beverley found herself asking, smirking and trying to ignore whatever feeling might be twisting in her stomach.

“Uh… yes?” Richie said, looking unsure of his answer.

It was ten minutes later when the next incident happened, Richie trying to eat the egg in the back of their minds now as they all returned to telling jokes, however when Mike put the toast in the toaster Richie had watched with unhinged fascination as he pressed the switch down and the pieces of bread disappear. 

“Where did they go?” Richie asked, frowning as he walked over to the toaster and the three all shared concerned glances, because, where did this kid actually come from? 

For the next minute whilst Mike and Ben went back to idly talking they also watched as Richie squinted, watching the toaster before letting out what sounded to Beverley a hiss as the toast popped back up and he stumbled back, falling over onto the floor. 

All three of them began laughing except for Richie who was on the floor and glaring at the toaster as if it had committed a crime.

“You-” She began but was cut off by her own laughing, “You should have seen your face!” She snorted as Mike offered Richie a hand who took it after a few seconds and easily pulled him up.

Richie only flipped Beverley off as she continued cackling when Richie stalked back to one of the stools and slipping onto the one next to Beverley. 

The rest of the meal had gone decent with Richie basically scoffing down the meal and finishing it at least five minutes before anyone else, saying at least ten times throughout when his mouth was full how good it was to which Mike would blush and give him a quiet thanks.

Now it was time for him to have a shower and get into some clothes Beverley thought to herself as she glanced at Ben, tapping the bench to get his attention with her fingernail, “Can Richie use your shower?” She asked, already knowing Ben would say yes, bless his sweet heart.

“Yeah sure, you know where the spare towels are right?” To which Beverley nodded and pushed herself out of her seat, “C’mon stalker.” She said, making her way towards the stairs and grabbing towels out of the cupboard where she knew they were kept along the way. 

The two of them thumped up the stairs and Beverley led him to the bathroom, “It's just in her.” She said, shoving the towels into his chest smirking when he was caught off guard by it, “Wash up stalker,” Pointing towards the shower in the back corner “Turn it right for hot water and left for cold. I’ll get some of Ben’s spare clothes for you to where.” She said before shoving him and slamming the door behind him.

-

Richie let out a sigh as Beverley shut the door behind him, and Richie frowned at the last comment, did that mean she wanted him to change out of these clothes? He shrugged before doing so and cautiously approaching the shower, right for hot water and left for cold was what she had said, right?

Surely they couldn’t control the temperature of the water through a little switch

Sticking out his tongue he turned the handle like to the right, frowning when nothing happened, pulling at it a little bit he let out a yelp as water suddenly began falling from the fucking ceiling.

He looked up to see it was actually coming from another metal part and it… actually was warm.

Richie fully stepped in now, it felt really nice, warm water against his skin, usually he would do his best to wash up at the quarry and that water was usually cold when he did so.

Richie only stayed in for a couple of minutes, letting the water run down his skin before stepping out, he didn’t want to exploit their kindness after all, and that thought made Richie nearly fall over as he stepped out.

He hadn’t realized until now but now that he looked at it, he found that he was attached to Beverley, in the way he was attached to Finn, in fact he was certain he felt the same for Ben and Mike at this point.

Richie felt light-headed at the thought and grabbed onto the counter-top, looking at his reflection in the large panel on the mirror, _idiot_, he thought, _you’re so fucking stupid you promised yourself you wouldn’t, you said you wouldn’t, you shouldn’t-_

His thoughts were cut off by knocks coming from the door once again before it edge open a bit and clothes were placed on the ground, “There ya go stalker.” Beverly's voice came through. 

Richie cautiously picked up the ‘towel’ and dried himself off and getting changed into the offered clothes, it was a large baggie navy hoodie that covered the soft shorts she had given him, the hoodie dangled just above his knees.

Gathering his other clothes he poked his head out of the bathroom, glancing up and down the hall before going towards Ben’s room to find the other three of them back in there now, they had seemed to be in the middle of a hushed and serious conversation, all of them had gotten changed into different and softer looking clothes, similar to what Richie was wearing and they all stopped talking and smiled as he stepped in, clutching his clothes to his chest, “I’ll go put those in the wash.” She said, taking them out of Richie’s hands disappearing down the hall.

“We set you up a mattress on the floor,” Ben said pointing towards a bed-like set-up on the floor next to his bed, glancing down he saw there were two of them and Mike had set himself up on the couch on the other side of the room with blankets and pillows.

“Thanks.” Richie said, grinning as he flopped down onto the mattress, “Though Ben if you want me in bed just tell me.” He said, winking before laughing as Mike threw one of the pillows at him and soon the other two were laughing as well.

Twenty minutes later and the lights had been turned off and everyone had quieted down in their places, and now that Richie was thinking to himself, maybe this won’t turn out that bad.

Besides, It wasn’t going to be back for at least three years, and it’s not like he will still be friends with them then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, yeah, in the last chapter I know I said I'd update it every Sunday but the past two weeks I've had school assignments due almost everyday and I've kind of been overworking myself so I just couldn't get a chapter out,
> 
> nOw tHIs chapter was an absolute bitch, I had to go back and rewrite a lot of it because I didn't like it and I'm still pretty unhappy with it but at this point I don't want to rewrite it and have to delay getting it out to ya'll
> 
> And yes, this is the first chapter with almost no angst :)))
> 
> Trust me, ya'll will see hopefully in the next chapter when each sides of the losers club realise that they all know Richie and its like "oh shit", it was meant to be in this chapter but its already 6k words at this point and I thought this was a good place to leave it! 
> 
> Uh, yeah so like, follow me on [instagram](https://www.instagram.com/small.cryptid/) to see some art of this AU that I'll be posting on there! Also follow my [friend](https://www.instagram.com/ghost_fork) on instagram bc they made adorable art of the babey too! 
> 
> Also Stan Bev and Richies friendship for clear skin
> 
> See you next week! Stay safe! <3 
> 
> and remember, the birds work for the bourgeoisie.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment if you wanna! Makes me feel valid because Im an insecure baby <33


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